Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Invests $1.41 Million in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 20,105 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,409,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. Evolve Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $856,000. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter valued at about $1,042,000. Westpac Banking Corp bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter valued at about $58,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth about $1,006,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth about $66,149,000. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.25.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, CEO Saun Bruce Van sold 129,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at $82,214,789.41. This trade represents a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE CFG opened at $69.86 on Wednesday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.96 and a 12 month high of $75.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.27 and a 200-day moving average of $65.62. The company has a market cap of $29.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.16, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.05. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.91%.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.